Hi
I have a 4 year old computer lying around… Sometime when i start it, it takes long time to detect hard disk, “Detecting Primary Master…” and then it gives the usual disk error " please inssert the disk bla bla bla"
I am guessing the hard disk is dying but how sure can i be?. Is it really dying.
I ran HDDLifePro and it says the Health is OK! and Performance is Excellent!.
Go to BIOS and set the first boot device as a HDD n see if this appears again.. :ohah:
What i noticed was the CD ROM also did not detect sometime.
& when it detected i opned the tray but i couldnt close it without pushing it.
I also found a virus called preboot.A, which i disinfected by the help of F-Prot Antivirus.
Here v go, now u know that your computer is infected by virus so Run a complete scan of all Adware, Registry, Antivirus scan in the Safe mode… TO kick them off ur computer 
Try a number of things:
[ul]
[li]Put the hard drive on the second IDE channel as Master.
[/li][li]Change the IDE cable
[/li][li]Try the hard drive in another computer
[/li][/ul]
What are the results?
[QUOTE=mega]
Change the IDE cable
[/QUOTE]
i think mega suggestion is the winner, but having viruses is not a good thing, obviously, so as karan suggested, remove all spyware & viruses[ot]scan in safe mode[/ot]
Edit: it may work if you just disconnect & reconnect the IDE cable